The genus Cinnamomum

182 Nguyen Kim Dao
For Cough or asthma: Ophiopogon japonicus (Liliaceae) and Schizandra chinensis Baill
(Schizandraceae) are added to the above ingredients and prepared through decoction
(Duc, 1997).
Prospects
The demand for Chinese cassia has always been satisfactory and the prospects are promising.
Consumption increases with population growth, and the prospects for cassia leaf
oil is expanding due to the growth in the soft drinks market. The use of cassia bark is
steadily increasing mainly due to the US market. However, little attention is given to
the use of cinnamon wood. This wood is useful for special decorative purposes and there
may be scope for multipurpose plantations including timber production. This is especially
important in the Vietnam region as the whole tree is harvested off the bark and
the timber is a by-product which is wasted.
The exploitation of related species in the region has not been seriously attempted,
and this is an area that needs to be looked into.
References
Akira, T., Tanaka, S., Tabata, M. (1986) Pharmacological studies on the antiulcerogenic activity
of Chinese cinnamon. Planta Medica, 52, 440–443.
Allen, C.K. (1939) Cinnamomum In. Cinnamomum and Neocinnamomum, J. Arnold
Arboretum, 20, 52–53.
Anon (2002) Pharmacopoea Vietnamica (3rd ed.). Health Ministry, Hanoi, p. 490.
Asakawa, Y. (1971) Chemical components of the benzene extract of C. loureirii. Flav. Ind., 2,
114–119 (cited from Weiss 1997).
Chi, C.Y. (1961) [New Chinese Materia Medica], Vol. 3.
Coppen, J.J.W. (1995) Flavour and Fragrances of Plant Origin. Non-wood Forest Products 1. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
Dao, N.K., Hop, T. and Siemonsma, J.S. (1999) Plant Resources of South East Asia. 13. Spices.
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Duc, L.T. (1997) Medicine Plants of Vietnam. Agricultural Publishing, Hanoi.
Dung, V.V. (1996) Vietnam Forest Trees. Agricultural Publishing House, Hanoi.
Ehlers, D., Hilmer, S. and Bartholomae, S. (1995) Quoted from Lawrence (2001).
Gong, F., Liang, Y.L., Xu, Q.S. and Chau, F.T. (2001) Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
and chromometric resolution applied to the determination of essential oils in cortex cinnamomi.
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Guenther, E. (1950) The Essential Oils, Vol. 4. Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., Florida, USA,
pp. 241–256.
Harada, M. and Yano, S. (1975) Pharmacological studies on Chinese cinnamon. II. Effects of
cinnamaldehyde on the cardiovascular and digestive systems. Chem. and Pharmaceu. Bull., 23,
941–947.
Harada, M. and Saito, A. (1978) Pharmacological Studies on Chinese Cinnamon. IV. Effects of
cinnamaldehyde on the isolated heart of guinea pigs and its catecholamine releasing effect
from the adrenal gland of dogs. J. Pharmaco-biodynamics, 1, 89–97.
IEBR (1996–1999) Study Results of Insects of Kwangnan Province (The document of Institute of
Ecology and Biological Resources), Hanoi.
Jayatilake, A., Poole, S.K., Poole, C.F. and Chichila, T.M.P. (1995) Simultaneous microsteam
distillation – solvent-extraction for the isolation of semivolatile flavour compounds from
Cinnamomum and their separation by series coupled – column gas chromatography. Ann.
Chem. Acta., 30, 147–162.